I have the fever, not for more cow bell, but to make some sort of list. I kicked several ideas around and ultimately decided to write about a bunch of games that I haven't written about before, namely everything I've played in 2014. It is a pretty eclectic group of titles from a wide variety of genres across a number of platforms. While I certainly can't say I have liked every game I've played, I haven't hated any of them either. I usually save a list such as this for year end, but with my blogging history...

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50. Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty

I have played most of the Ratchet & Clank series and while each successive title has been a regurgitation of the prior, at least they were each fun to play and carefully crafted. The same cannot be said for the Lombax/robot's first foray into all-digital as the level design isn't up to series standards and the repetitive missions feel tacked on.

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49. Metrico

Last generation brought about the revitalization of the 2D puzzle/platformer. Success stories such as Braid and Limbo turned a nearly extinct genre into one of the most prolific. In a sea of similar titles, Metrico adapts a business-like approach to differentiate itself, but infographic visuals and environmental manipulation aren't enough to overcome game stopping bugs and routine puzzles. I had some fun playing through Metrico, but despite its efforts, it's just another suit.

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48. Proteus

A game based on nothing but exploration and observation appeals to me, but in order to successfully pull off such a novel concept there need to be more places to go and more things to see than in Proteus. The entire island can be combed over in 15 minutes and changing seasons amounts to little more than swapping color palettes. I appreciate what Proteus is trying to do, I just wish it did it better.

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47. Tokyo Jungle

Tokyo Jungle's unique framework could make for an amazing sequel. The original is quite a fun experience at first, but the lack of gameplay variety and some questionable design decisions (such as forcing you to play survival mode between story chapters) hamper the overall experience. With more polish and less repetition, this original series could elevate to the top of the food chain.

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46. Skylanders Swap Force

Excellent production values married with simple hack and slash combat and incredibly light RPG elements make for a surprisingly good time. Activision's money pit is not for completionists on a budget though, as the cost of figures required to experience all of the content the game has to offer could bankroll a small country. For some father-son bonding time and Patrick Warburton hijinx, it was worth it <look's at bank statement>...kind of.

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Hopefully it wasn't too depressing reading about a bunch of games that I am pretty cool on. In the next installment, we should graduate to lukewarm so there is that to look forward to(?). I hope you enjoyed the read and sincerely appreciate you checking out my return to blogging.

Unfortunately, this will be my last post for the foreseeable future as work threatens to overwhelm me. Apologies to those who have been following my "100 Favorite PS3/Xbox 360 Games" series, but it will be going into cryo-sleep for an undetermined amount of time. While it may be early, I couldn't let 2013 end without sharing what I've been up to and it's either now or never. While my year in review is neither egg nog nor Jingle Bells, it has become a holiday tradition of mine. Those who know me know the following two things:

1. I play a lot of games. Many here are big into television, movies, comic books, etc. I play games (and watch The Walking Dead). That is practically all I do in my free time.

2. I am woefully behind on current releases. I have yet to experience the enormity of Grand Theft Auto V, the swashbuckling goodness of Assassin's Creed IV, or the unbridled joy of A Link Between Worlds. They are all in the backlog and will be played in due time.

That being said, I've played my fair share of games this year. The following are the ones that I finished (categorized and in alphabetical order):

3DS

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Super Mario 3D Land

Tales of the Abyss

DLC

Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution

Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx

Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assassin

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West: Pigsy's Perfect 10

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

The Walking Dead: 400 Days

DS

Chrono Trigger

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

Elite Beat Agents

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Last Window: the Secret of Cape West

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Rhythm Heaven

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

The World Ends With You

eShop

Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale

Gunman Clive

The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of the Seasons

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!

Pushmo

SteamWorld Dig

iOS

Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered

Infinity Blade

Kingdom Rush HD

Kingdom Rush Frontiers HD

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

Rayman Jungle Run

The Room

PC and Browser

Coma

Frog Fractions

To the Moon

PS3

Alice: Madness Returns

Assassin's Creed III

Binary Domain

Bioshock Infinite

Dante's Inferno

Diablo III

Dragon's Dogma

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Hitman: Absolution

The Last of Us

Max Payne 3

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Prototype 2

Spec Ops: The Line

Yakuza 4

PSN

Bit.Trip Presents...Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

The Cave

Closure

Guacamelee!

Hotline Miami

Joe Danger 2: The Movie

Machinarium

Okami HD

Outland

Quantum Conundrum

Thomas Was Alone

The Unfinished Swan

PSP

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom

PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable

Wii

The Last Story

XBLA

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Fez

Mark of the Ninja

Xbox 360

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

The Darkness II

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

Dishonored

DmC: Devil May Cry

Far Cry 3

Guitar Hero: World Tour

Lollipop Chainsaw

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Sleeping Dogs

Sonic Generations

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

I've got a number of games I've been working on here and there. Here is what I'm currently playing:

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - PSP

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom - Xbox 360

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations - DS

Rockband - Xbox 360

Saints Row IV - Xbox 360

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure - Wii

There is a darker side to my 2013, a group of titles that I just didn't enjoy enough to finish. Here are the ones I put at least a couple of hours into:

Crysis 2 - Xbox 360

Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy - PSP

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga - Xbox 360

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies - DS

Hitman: Blood Money - Xbox 360

Jet Set Radio - PSN

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysey - PSN

Rez HD - XBLA

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game - PSN

Yakuza: Dead Souls - PS3

And that is my 2013 in a TL:DR nutshell. Hope you played some awesome games in 2013 as well and if you haven't played them, you give such overlooked gems as Dragon's Dogma and 999 a shot. Here's to a great 2014 *clink*.

While I still have a substantial backlog to work through before I put the PS3 and Xbox 360 out to pasture, I retired the Wii earlier this year after I beat The Last Story (kind of fitting if you ask me). While it is definitely my least favorite console of it's generation, I had some fantastic experiences on the Wii. Here are the best of the best:

10. Muramasa: The Demon Blade

While Muramasa suffered from some repetitive hack and slash game play, the vibrant hand drawn art and fusion of classical Japanese and modern instruments throughout the incredible soundtrack kept me invested in everything between the exciting boss battles.

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9. Kirby's Epic Yarn

Kirby's Wii debut married classic 2D gameplay with an original concept. The cloth/yarn mechanics may have felt gimmicky if the developers didn't go all out. Thankfully, everything from the visuals to the side activities stayed true to the title and the end result is a cohesive platformer that is fun for players of all ages and skill levels.

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8. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut

Yes, I included a remake of a late 90's PC point and click adventure on my list. With the genre picking up serious steam on, well, Steam as well as iOS, it is a shame that the Wii didn't tap into the resurgence of such a classical genre being that the control scheme is perfect for it. As it is, this remake of George Stobbart's adventure is fantastic featuring clever, yet logical puzzles as well as an interesting story full of humorous dialogue and plenty of innuendo.

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7. Super Mario Galaxy 2

I think the brilliance of Super Mario 64 ruined 3D Mario platformers for me. Don't get me wrong, as I've certainly enjoyed every one that I've played since with Galaxy 2 being the best of the bunch, but in my eyes, Nintendo set the bar impossibly high with one of my favorite games of all time. As for Galaxy 2, I really enjoyed the creative level design, game play variety, and inclusion of Yoshi.

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6. Wii Sports

Wii Sports didn't look like my cup of tea. I knew my kids would enjoy it, but I planned to skip it altogether. I tried golf, baseball, and boxing and just wasn't feeling it. My wife convinced me to play tennis and bowling with her, and I was hooked. Both of those games are incredibly addictive and fun, being easy to pick up and play but require skill to master. And just when I thought I had my fill, I discovered the mini-game challenges associated with each sport. Easily one of the best pack-in titles since Super Mario World.

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5. Donkey Kong Country Returns

I bought this game as a present for my daughter, not realizing at the time that it really wasn't for kids. I loved helping her though and then playing though it myself as this re-imagining of the classic SNES series stays true to it's roots with solid platforming and "old school" difficulty while introducing innovative ideas and being smart with it's use of motion controls. Drawing from it's pedigree, Returns is also drop dead gorgeous and features a soundtrack full of catchy remixes of classic tracks.

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4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

I had managed to avoid the Guitar Hero franchise until the third installment thinking that it wasn't for me. I was very wrong, as it was love at first play and I was fused to a plastic guitar for the week that it took me to beat the game. Legends was like catching lightning in a bottle though, as while I've certainly enjoyed subsequent Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands, they haven't come close to capturing the magic of my first experience as a rock god.

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3. Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love

I enjoyed the Valkyria Chronicles-esque combat system in Sakura Wars, the story with heaping spoonfuls of pure wackiness, the catchy soundtrack, and well drawn anime portraits. None of these are why Sakura Wars ranks so highly on my list of favorite Wii games though. The colorful and incredibly likable cast of characters are more than worth the price of admission alone. I laughed and cried along with Gemini, Rosita, and company and they have forever etched a place among my favorite casts in video games.

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2. Xenoblade Chronicles

Unlike Sakura Wars, I didn't think that Xenoblade had an incredible cast of characters. Don't get me wrong as I liked Shulk, Dunban, and the rest of the group well enough, but it is everything else about the game that makes it the superior JRPG in my mind. The combat system is fast paced and fun, the art direction is incredible and took my breath away time after time, the soundtrack is aural bliss, and the story and setting are fascinating. The mind blowing ending is the cherry on top.

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1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

I know not everyone was on board with Skyward Sword, but I absolutely adored my time with it. There is something very special and unique about a Zelda game in my opinion and even if Skyward isn't all that far removed from the 3D formula established by Ocarina of Time, the release of a new Zelda is cause for celebration and excitement. This isn't Call of Duty, people. We are lucky to see two new console Zelda's per generation. Besides the incredible dungeon design and unique puzzles, I enjoyed the combat and story in Skyward Sword more than in any other Zelda, the motion controls felt like they actually added to the experience, and the boss battles were fantastic in typical Zelda fashion.

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I hope you enjoyed this week's top 10. I know my list is far from conventional, so let me know where I went wrong and what I missed.

I’m an old fart who has been playing games practically since games were around. The first game I remember vividly was Pong in the electronics section of a local K-Mart. Funny how two dashes and a dot could blow my young mind. From that moment, I saved all of the money that I didn’t spend at the arcade until I finally had enough to buy my first console, an Atari 2600. Ironically, it is probably my least favorite of the consoles I’ve owned, but it was the start of a beautiful relationship. While I have played a lot of games, I haven’t always been very good at finishing them. That culminated with the PS1 when I realized that I played well over 40 games on it, yet only finished 5. After that wake up call, I vowed to make a point to actually see games through to completion as long as I was enjoying myself, and that is reflected in the disproportionate number of games beaten the last two generations.

While I loved games throughout the 80’s and some of my all-time favorites are from the decade of excess (Bionic Commando, Super Mario Bros. 2, Pitfall!, etc.), I discovered a little title called “Final Fantasy” in 1990 and it changed the way I thought about games. It quickly became my all-time favorite and I soon planned my console purchases based on where the next Final Fantasy would land. I even pawned my stereo so I could pick up Final Fantasy VI at release. About that same time, I bought my first PC (college kids really shouldn’t be given credit cards) and the first game I picked up was Betrayal at Krondor. I didn’t know anything about it except that it was based on the Riftwar saga by Raymond E. Feist, my favorite series of novels. Needless to say, I was blown away and while I didn’t think it possible, this relatively unknown CRPG topped Final Fantasy as my favorite game of all time and remains in the top spot to this day.

Now that you know where I started, I just realized that 100 of the nearly 400 games I’ve beaten in my lifetime are RPG’s. This blog is in celebration of that accomplishment, and while it may be pretentious, I figured it only right to celebrate this personal landmark with a blog. As you will notice, I did include three DLC packs in my list but I feel it is only appropriate being that they all came on separate disks and took me well over 10 hours each (100+ for LoD). I consider the Borderlands games action RPG’s though not everyone does. I also didn’t include many games that I don’t consider RPG’s that many do (like the 2 Yakuza games and half dozen or so Zelda games I’ve beaten). Enough with the semantics, on to the 100:

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits – PS2

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance – PS2

Bastion – XBLA

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean – GC

Betrayal at Krondor – PC

Borderlands – PS3

Borderlands 2 – PS3

Breath of Fire – SNES

Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest – PS2

Chrono Trigger – DS

Costume Quest – PSN

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – PSP

Dark Cloud 2 – PS2

Dark Souls – PS3

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – PS3

Diablo – PC

Diablo II – PC

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction – PC

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness – PS2

Dragon Age: Origins – PS3

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening – PS3

Dragon Age II – PS3

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – DS

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – PS2

Dragon Warrior – NES

Dragon’s Dogma – PS3

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen – PS3

Dust: An Elysian Tail – XBLA

Eternal Sonata – PS3

Fable – Xbox

Fable II – Xbox 360

Fable III – Xbox 360

Fallout 3 – Xbox 360

Fallout: New Vegas – Xbox 360

Final Fantasy – NES

Final Fantasy IV – SNES

Final Fantasy VI – SNES

Final Fantasy VII – PS1

Final Fantasy X – PS2

Final Fantasy X-2 – PS2

Final Fantasy XII – PS2

Final Fantasy XIII – PS3

Final Fantasy XIII-2 – PS3

Grandia III – PS2

Illusion of Gaia – SNES

Infinity Blade – iOS

Jade Empire – Xbox

Jeanne D’arc – PSP

Kingdom Hearts – PS2

Kingdom Hearts II – PS2

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep – PSP

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos – PC

Legend of Legaia – PS1

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony – PSP

Magna Carta II – Xbox 360

Mass Effect – Xbox 360

Mass Effect 2 – Xbox 360

Mass Effect 3 – Xbox 360

Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen – PC

Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Wii

NieR – Xbox 360

Radiata Stories – PS2

Realms of Arkania III: Shadows Over Riva – PC

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love – Wii

Secret of Mana – SNES

Shadow Hearts – PS2

Shadow Hearts: Covenant – PS2

Shadow Hearts: From the New World – PS2

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 – DS

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES – PS2

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable – PSP

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 – PS2

Skies of Arcadia Legends – GC

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Xbox

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords – Xbox

Suikoden III – PS2

Suikoden IV – PS2

Suikoden V – PS2

Tales of Graces F – PS3

Tales of Legendia – PS2

Tales of Symphonia – GC

Tales of Vesperia – Xbox 360

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Xbox 360

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Xbox 360

The Last Story – Wii

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky – PSP

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age – Xbox

The Witcher II: Assassins of Kings – Xbox 360

The World Ends With You – DS

Valkyria Chronicles – PS3

Valkyria Chonicles II – PSP

Wild ARM’s – PS1

Wild ARM’s 3 – PS2

Xenoblade Chronicles – Wii

Xenosaga Episode I – PS2

Xenosaga Episode II – PS2

Xenosaga Episode III – PS2

X-Men Legends – GC

Ys Seven – PSP

Ys: The Oath in Felghana – PSP

Here are the RPG's that I regret not finishing (there are dozens more that I didn't finish that I don't regret so much):

Betrayal in Antara* - PC

Breath of Fire II – SNES

Final Fantasy VIII* – PS1

Final Fantasy IX* - PS1

Golden Sun – GBA

Grandia* - PS1

Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny – PC

Pokemon Yellow – GBC

Tales of the Abyss (currently playing) – 3DS

The Elder Scrolls: Arena – PC

Torchlight* - PC

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss – PC

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth* - PSP

Xenogears* - PS1

(* indicates that I plan on going back and finishing it one of these days)

If your favorite RPG didn’t make the list, it certainly may be in my backlog of shame which contains titles such as Ni No Kuni and Fire Emblem: Awakening which I have every intention of playing sooner than later.

Thank you for reading my blog and celebrating 100 RPG’s with me. Here’s to 100 more! I leave you with a few of my favorite RPG tracks.